A bridge to somewhere

To hear the national media tell it, just about nothing in government is going right anymore. That special quality of leadership through difficult times seems to have eluded us as a society. OK, I understand that those qualities of leadership are most often given a helping hand by historians some ways down the road, but there is no question that those whom we hire (elect) to govern might otherwise be closer to a sacking than ever before.

Indeed, it was Winston Churchill who wrote, "History will be kind to me because I intend to write it." What the scribes put down about these times of ours will be fascinating and I wonder how the chapter will end.

Still, even in these times, when a governmental body does something right, it is worthy of notice. It is no secret that the California North Coast is beset with infrastructure challenges. Everything from fiber optic communications to the movement of goods, products and people has squarely placed our region at a cost and competitive disadvantage for decades. Not the least of these is the bottleneck on U.S. Highway 101 at Richardson Grove. As new highway transportation efficiencies are developed, there are larger and cleaner vehicles that move our goods and materials farther and at a lower cost. But, not here.

For many years, the state Department of Transportation and the California Highway Patrol have rightly deemed Richardson Grove unsafe for the longer, contemporary trucks and trailers. Thus, the STAA (industry standard) length semis would have to be off-loaded somewhere before they reach this beautiful but treacherous, narrow passage. Cargoes would then be reloaded for delivery to destinations along the Redwood Coast. This creates two problems for local businesses and consumers. For shoppers, there will necessarily be an additional cost tacked on the price of products. Businesses that ship goods outside the local area are placed squarely at a competitive disadvantage with their competitors who do not have to incur the additional cost.

Public safety was and is the uppermost concern. Anyone who has followed a careening, 40-foot RV, piloted by a rookie driver through the narrows, knows what I mean. Pedestrians and bicyclists take that road at their own sincere peril.

Caltrans has what it calls its 101 Route Concept Report. It is a 20 to 25 year gaze into the future of transportation needs. For a long time, the Caltrans vision for California highways was a freeway extending from Mexico to Oregon. All of the proposed improvements planned to accomplish this grand vision were neatly inserted into the plan with maps, graphs, charts and of course, preliminary cost estimates. Therein, lay the rub. The Route Concept Report in the early 2000s called for a full-blown bypass around the offending Richardson Grove. Costs and local sentiment precluded the notion that the State could someday plow a freeway through the ancient stand of redwoods.

The costs of such an undertaking at the time exceeded $300 million. Even the most elementary student of public infrastructure theory would understand that the fierce competition for transportation dollars around the state would never smile favorably on the rural North Coast with its relative few votes and lagging political influence. Accordingly, the big money for such improvements routinely went to freeway overpasses and off ramps in Southern California. The Richardson Grove bypass was taken off the Report as being too expensive and environmentally unsound.

Just imagine the public outcry that would accompany a plan to punch a four-lane bypass through the pristine forests on the outskirts of Humboldt Redwoods State Park. With that knowing, along with the huge estimated price tag, many were left with the sad reality that the path through Richardson Grove would remain a costly hindrance to local economic well-being. Surely, every community has its competitive advantages and disadvantages and this would be one that the local community would have to simply grin and bear.

Just a couple of years ago, a plan emerged that eclipsed the conventional wisdom of the past. Caltrans engineers came up with a vision that would be much safer, preserve environmental integrity and natural beauty of the roadway and create a way to allow standard length vehicles to traverse the narrows of the Grove. In a departure from the 'freeway or nothing' mindset of the past, Caltrans engineers sought to realign the road in a manner that would most closely address the needs and concerns of business, public safety and the environment.

The Eureka Chamber Board of Directors has long embraced this very precept. Simply put; economic stability and environmental integrity are not mutually exclusive. It is beautiful.

On December 4, 2008 Caltrans issued its Environmental Document for public review. Comments may be submitted through January 30, 2009. Surely there are lingering concerns and adverse impacts to be addressed but, in the main, this Caltrans plan is an exercise in responsible engineering that is sensitive to the complex array of needs and wants that necessarily accompany any proposed 'growth-inducing' advancement in this region.

Some have argued that realigning the highway would open the door to a rampant big-box invasion of epic proportions. But, the fact is the big-time, national retailers are best able to absorb the costs of trans-shipping. It is the locally grown, smaller businesses that have the hardest time paying that extra freight.

With the realignment in place there are additional plusses. With longer, more efficient trucks, there will be fewer yet more fuel-efficient big rigs on the road. The savings in fuel costs will benefit the consumer. Air quality is also a beneficiary of this responsible approach. The shorter, older trucks that are currently employed to transport cargoes in and out of Humboldt County produce more emissions than their newer, longer counterparts.

This is clearly a win-win-win-win for the local community. It is demonstrably safer, reduces business costs, it is environmentally sensitive and it preserves the unique, cathedral-like character of the ancient trail.

In these times of governmental largess, seeming bureaucratic incompetence and an unwillingness or inability to confront the impossible challenges of the day, it is refreshing to see a plan on the table that addresses diverse, often competing interests.

In this, Caltrans has succeeded in finding an impressive solution that creates a clear path of responsibility.